Thursday, October 1, 2015

The Gastronomers' Top New Picks for Afternoon Foodie Breaks + Giveaway


Have you ever stumbled upon this idiom " A stitch in time saves nine"?

Well, I've forgotten about this until my daughter asked me about it in her assignment.  They are now into sewing, stitching and mending clothes.  In the assignment, she was asked to explain the meaning of the above phrase and corelate it to mending clothes.


The idiom simply means  "Don't procrastinate!"  As much as I would wanna avoid procrastination, it usually gets a hold on me.  Being a mom, you are easily desuaded to forego a specific task for something trivial or rather important.  I can use all the excuses in the world, but  what I would use are having 4 kids, 3 dogs, 2 businesses and a husband.  I guess that would be enough to explain why I still have a long list of unfinished blogs waiting at my draft list.

Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting something off you are doing until a later time.  Sucks bigtime if you keep seeing unfinished tasks, and chores are endless.

To clearly state the meaning of the above phrase, I guess, it is better to spend  a little time and effort to deal with a task or problem right now than to wait until later, when it get worse and take longer to deal with.  
How about you, do you somehow believe that not doing things right away may create more work in the long run?

Before you decide to answer that let me share where I've been to these days and how I've decided to do these instead of finishing my other blog posts.

RESTOCK CURIOSITIES

Located at Guijo St, San Antonio Vill., Makati is this hipster coffee place that boasts of gourmet coffee and chocolate chip cookies.

It's not only the coffees that made me wanting to visit them since I've heard of them, I'm also curious of the artworks made by local artists and craftsmen that were curated by the people behind the jem of a place.  It was situated side by side an offbeat Japanese restaurant that I've been also eying for, apparently 12/10 was closed at those moment.

Together with my daughter (who's taking up Fine Arts), we're there after our supposed lunch date at Satinka which was at Kamagong, a walking distance to Restock and 12/10.  Though we had lunch at McDo since Satinka, an organic-themed resto will still be opened at 1 pm, we had to take a short ride from Chino Roces to Guijo St.  We were quite blessed to find the place all for ourselves, since at that time they only have one guest (probably a friend).

The place, tranquil but screaming loud with pop arts and modern crafts and knick knacks, is such a great place to while away some hours.


They support local artists selling unique what nots.


It's a place where everything is tied to a tea- a coffee shop, a tambayan, a showroom for unique upscale furniture, a gallery for framed artworks and a store for trivial or practical items you can use to decorate your table tops, counter tops and whatever top you that needed some embellishment.


You can probably see how my daughter was so at home here, playing with the cards at one of the coffee tables while waiting for her coffee and cookie.


Everything here probably has a price tag, my eyes and taste is definitely on the study desk and mini side table in front of it.


It's one of the new best place to get true coffee, some even sourced out around the world, freshly grounded and brewed for your liking.

My daughter had a cup of cappuccino.  I insisted of having a taste and glad I did.  It has a robust, strong coffee flavor which melded so well with the crema of the milk and the cocoa dusked on to it. 


The coffee hipster I'm trying to be had this espresso shot, which I forgot how they called it in the menu.  You'll be surprised at how passionate their barista is, he truly knows his craft.  What he served me is a brew out of Yirgacheffe blend from Ethiopia and a shot of soda water which serves as a chaser. 

This blend is really strong and full bodied and has an earthy hint of flavor with an endnote that's floral.  If you're into good gourmet coffee, drip coffee is for you, and this you've got to try.


A huge Salted Chocolate Chip cookie was paired with our choices of coffee and this afternoon could have not been any better with a game or two of Cards Against Humanity


Tama Yaki 


I've never have thought of going out with hubby on a date over Takoyaki and Milk Tea, but why not?  After driving for me for an event, I asked that we side-track to Wilson Ave., going to P. Guevarra St. and we stumbled upon Tama Yaki.  I knew Tama Yaki for years, in fact, I always drop by to buy some at their Landmark Makati stall (but they're no longer there).


Had their wintermelon pearl milk tea.


Hubby seemed impressed with the place, he found it too profound and modern-looking for a takoyaki joint.  I found it funky and looked like a futuristic place with all the LED lights and the cosmic chairs.



We actually ordered 3 different takoyaki but they all look the same.  You'll be surprised at how wide the range of choices for takoyaki they have.

SHAWARMA BROS.



The idea of customizing your own shawarma plate is not so ideal but proves to be satisfying after all.  For reasons both mundane but also exciting, this joint turned out to quite a come on to my girls.  I thought my hubby will only be the one to like the place, but seemed like the girls found it unique even though they need to sit on hard cement bench.

I mean, who would have thought of putting a trailer inside a room, a yellow one that is?  Actually, Shawarma Bros. started out as a food truck and so I guess they have carried on the theme, which we all found very interesting.

Ordering was also fun, and they've made it really easy for you, coz' you have to line up the counter to order and pay for it there. 

To order, you need to follow these rules:
a.  Get a Rice Plate, Burrito Bro or Wrap
b.  Pick your meat: Chicken, Lamb or Beef
c.  Pick 2 sauces: Garlic Yoghurt, Chilli tomato, cheese
d.  Wanna make it a meal bro?
e.  Pay for your meal, wait for your order...


Keema Rice Meal  (P 119).  This consists of spiced beef stew, biryani rice and salsa.  The meal comes with a glass of Iced tea.


Chicken Shawarma Rice Meal (P 169). 


Lamb Steak Rice Meal (P 219).


Beef Shawarma Wrap Meal (169).  I like how tender and tasty the meat filling is though it's nothing different to other shawarma brands I've had.  We also had beef shawarma with keema, one of the Bro meal.

What can you say, my kids can eat rice in it's heaviness even for an afternoon snack.  Many said the prices were a bit steep compared to other shawarma places in the metro, they do compensate it with the value of the place where they're located, which is away from the crowd, a great place to have meet ups, coz it's not noisy and there are other restaurants you can also fancy inside the vicinity. 

So there...
I never really intended to put off some things but I can't exchange any time spent bonding with my kids and family rather than sitting and dealing with freakin' dsl connection while writing my mind off and finishing some blog posts.  

If you ever want to visit these places or have been to any of them, do share me your experiences below and you may win yourself a GC worth P 500 from Alqueria Restaurant in Mega Fashion hall, SM Megamall and one free entrance ticket to Best Food Forward on Oct. 10- 11, 2015 at the Rockwell Tent, Makati City, care of Chef Anna of Pastry Armoire.

A winner will be randomly selected.  Just comment below if you have been to any of the above featured places or if you haven't been to any of them, tell us, which one would you want to visit and why.  Kindly put your name, FB account, and contact numbers.  Another thing make sure you follow PASTRY ARMOIRE on Facebook, okay?

Thanks and good luck!



Restock Curiosities
Address:  7635 Guijo Street, 
                 San Antonio VIllage, 
                Makati City, Metro Manila
 Contact Details:  +63(917)6631011     


 
 Tama Yaki
Address:  453 P. Guevarra St.,
                 Addition Hills, San Juan,
                 Metro Manila  
Contact Details: (+63 2) 570-7789,
             (+63 922) 861-3092



Shawarma Bros
Address:  Second Floor, BGC Stopover Pavillion,
                  Rizal Drive Corner 31st Street,
                  Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Contact Details: +63 9773257032




Shawarma Bros Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato 


1 comment:

  1. I haven't been to any of these places, but would love to visit them all ! My top pick, though, would be Restock Curiosities. I like taking photos of wherever I eat or have a drink, and this place is such a visual treat!

    Hope I win your contest! My contact number is +639175363224 :) That can be reached through Viber too.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear your thoughts on my post, care for a comment?